eBay Buys Denmark’s DBA for $380 million
Reports are coming out of Denmark that eBay has acquired the company that runs DBA, the “eBay of Denmark” for 2.1 billion Kroner, or about $383 million
DBA, founded in 1995, attracts around a million visitors a month, and is a top ten Danish website. 275,000 new listings are added each month, according to its website.
The site is owned by Blue Avis, founded in 1981, which is a free newspaper with a circulation of around 500,000 per week. The company has 225 employees.
Update: More news -Ebay has also acquired BillMeLater, and announced 10% layoffs.
source: Techcrunch.com
Who writes Linux: Corporate America
I’m not sure why the silly notion that “Only .10068% of Linux kernel developers are paid” keeps circulating, but it does. So, let me just say, once and for all, Linux is written, for the most part, by paid software engineers and programmers from major American corporations.
The Linux Foundation did a break-down of who was doing what with the Linux kernel back in April 2008. The results, Linux: How Fast it is Going, Who is Doing It, What They are Doing, and Who is Sponsoring It, makes it crystal clear that big business is behind Linux.
At one time, it’s true, Linux was a labor of love, but that was a long, long time ago. While I don’t an exact date for when Linux transformed from being written mainly by enthusiasts to when it was being written mostly by paid developers, I suspect it came twelve months after October 2001.
October 2001? That was when IBM announced that it was investing a billion dollars in Linux. Within a year, then Bill Zeitler, IBM’s senior vice president and group executive for eServer, told me in 2002 that “We’ve recouped most of it in the first year in sales of software and systems.”
Big business wasn’t just paying for Linux. Linux was already paying its own way in big business.
By January 24, 2008, when the 2.6.24 Linux kernel was released, over a thousand developers from over 186 companies were contributing to the Linux kernel. That doesn’t count any work done on any particular Linux distribution or other open-source program.
Breaking it down farther, in the 2.6.24 kernel, it appears 13.9% of Linux had been written by people without a corporate backer. In the case of 12.9% of the contributors, the Linux Foundation was unable to pin point exactly who the programmers were working for. The rest, 74.2% was written by paid developers.
The top ten looks like this: Red Hat, 11.2%; Novell, 8.9%; IBM, 8.3%; Intel, 4.1%; Linux Foundation, 2.6%; independent Linux consultants, 2.5%; SGI, 2.0% MIPS Technology, 1.6%; Oracle, 1.3% and MontaVista, 1.2%. Just underneath the top ten, you’ll find Google at 1.1%.
Except for MontaVista, a major embedded Linux vendor, MIPS, a powerhouse semiconductor OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and the independents, these are all major, billion dollar plus United States companies. It doesn’t really sound like Linux is made in ma’s basement does it?
Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Source: ComputerWorld.com
Windows clouds are rolling in
So far, cloud computing has been a solely Unix, and more frequently Linux, affair. There are some good reasons for this, generally Linux is easy to deploy, easy to copy and quick to update and reconfigure, all vital capabilities when you want to quickly clone and duplicate your host environments across tens or hundreds of hosts.
But that doesn’t suit everybody. Windows has for some time had the scalability and the technology behind it to support large collections of computers working in a relatively autonomous fashion. Active Directory, Message Queuing and the deployment services built into Windows Server 2008, and the cluster services built into Windows Server 2003 are all good examples.
Now Microsoft have announced they are going to release a solution specifically for cloud computing. The Windows Cloud OS.
This comes at the same time as Amazon have announced that a Windows version of it’s elastic computing resource is on the way.
I doubt these two are the same, or even related, but it is clear that Windows is gently leveraging itself into the cloud space along with the existing mainstays.
source: ComputerWorld.com
Microsoft discontinues mobile browser project
IDG News Service — Microsoft this week stopped supporting Deepfish, its mobile browser research project that was an example of the company’s software plus services strategy.
The Deepfish browser displayed Web pages on Windows Mobile phones just like they look on a PC and then let users zoom in and out of parts of the page they were interested in examining closer. The browser worked in conjunction with Microsoft servers that delivered the Web pages to the phones.
Microsoft first announced that it was working on the project in 2007 but started developing the browser the previous year. “Mobile browsing is now advancing to the point where mobile devices rival the desktop — which is what we wanted to see,” according to a blog post on the Live Labs site announcing that Microsoft was retiring the service.
Mobile browsing has indeed progressed. Slow mobile data rates once demanded that content providers develop custom sites that would load quickly for mobile users. While content providers continue to create such mobile specific sites, increasing mobile data rates allow a better browsing experience even for standard Web sites designed for the PC. Apple’s iPhone browser, for example, has won praise for delivering standard Web sites in a very usable manner.
Other companies continue to develop new technologies to improve mobile browsing. Opera’s Opera Mini, for example, employs servers to strip down the size of some Web sites for quicker loading on mobile phones.
Mozilla has also long experimented with mobile browsers and is developing a mobile version of Firefox called Fennec.
Microsoft didn’t say how many people used Deepfish. However the blog post about its discontinuation was posted in mid-August but appears to have received little notice until a news site wrote about it recently, perhaps an indication that not many people were using it.
In the blog posting, Microsoft said that the feedback it received from people who tried Deepfish would influence future projects.
Source: ITWorld.com
Congress Finally Gets Why The Google Deal Is So Bad
Congress is finally understanding the reality of the Yahoo-Google search deal, and what it means for the state of search competition in general. It’s not about price fixing advertising rates, it’s about neutering the second place market participant.
As I wrote on September 27, the current deal between Yahoo and Google will inevitably lead to the decline of Yahoo’s core search advertising business. They will insert Google ads to push revenue. But as they do so, they’ll give advertisers an increasing incentive to just go to Google for their ad management. The disparity between Yahoo and Google’s revenue-per-ad models will grow, which will further encourage Yahoo’s reliance on Google. The result will be a Google monopoly in search advertising. And instead of competing for that monopoly, they get paid for the privilege:
16 ways to keep your best employees without breaking the bank
Employees matter. No, they really matter. In fact, as the forces of globalism and the proliferation of technology relentlessly level the proverbial playing field, it’s safe to say that the men and women who work for you are everything. Think about it. Your competitors have access to the exact same resources as you. That means infinite choices exist not only for your customers, but for your employees as well. According to Joanne G. Sujansky, Ph.D, CSP, if you’re not seeking ways to nurture them and meet their needs, they will seek greener pastures—and your customers will follow them over the fence.
“Many leaders don’t realize that the rules of business have changed almost overnight,” says Sujansky, founder and CEO of KEYGroup®. “The old paradigm says that your primary focus should be on keeping your customer happy. The new paradigm says the employee has taken over that spot. Keep her engaged and she’ll keep your customers happy. Neglect her needs and she won’t be so concerned about keeping her end of the bargain. In the end, not only will she go elsewhere, your customers may follow suit.”
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How To Simplify The Niche Selection Process
Topic selection for a blog is similar to niche selection for a business. What you decide to write about determines what type of audience you attract and how you make money from that audience. In today’s e-commerce landscape, content is the driving force behind traffic and purchasing decisions online, so topic selection is a big deal.
Today I want to offer a simple answer to this problem, to help choose what topic and niche is right for you. I say simple because it’s possible to make this a very complicated choice, with in-depth keyword research, market analysis and other assessable factors weighing in on the decision process.
Unfortunately I find that many people who do extensive research become paralyzed. With more data comes more awareness of the different variables at play. Sometimes knowing less is a good thing because it gives you a clear next step - an action you can take that actually moves you closer to a result.
This is especially important for newbies and people with personalities that demand they know everything about everything before taking that first step into the big wide world. As someone new to Internet marketing, learning about all the different ways to research a potential topic may be so much work and such a big learning curve that it takes months before any action is taken to actually test the topic in the market.
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When E-Coaching Makes Sense
Coaching has been accepted by the business world as a useful tool. Not only can coaching solve disputes, but it can also prevent new ones. It’s not easy, and it takes a significant amount of effort, but coaching works.
‘E-coaching’ is coaching over an electronic medium - usually the internet. E-coaching offers incredible opportunities, but it has limitations. If you’re considering adding e-coaching to your coaching repertoire, here are a few things to keep in mind:
E-coaching advantages
- Expert opinions are readily available. Need to ask a coaching guru a quick question? Contact information is seconds away.
- Online training makes information available to everyone, and allows employees to skip sections that are irrelevant to them.
- Geographical boundaries are no longer a problem. People across the globe can have real-time online chats.
- Team members who are prone to falling off the coaching wagon can be reminded to stay on track.
E-coaching limitations
- Personal connections are hard to see from a computer screen.
- Coaching is notorious for taking time, but that’s because it works best that way. An instructional video on how to manage generational gaps is helpful, but may not always provide a long-term solution.
- Finding and testing great online resources, and weeding out the bad ones, is a time consuming but necessary evil.
- Knowing how to balance e-coaching with other coaching techniques is important. Sometimes we really do need those human interactions. Face-to-face interactions are just as, if not more, important.
E-coaching is a useful tool for coaches to use. It clearly has its downsides, but its positives more than make up for its failings. So, while coaches should integrate e-coaching into their business, they shouldn’t make it their business. Coaches must stay aware and make sure that just because their content has become easier to access, that it doesn’t become less valuable. In order to stay on top, coaches must accept and apply e-coaching through podcasting, AV chats, videos, and online courses, but not forget that sometimes what businesses need is an old fashioned tête-à-tête, with cell phones on silent.
Source: ITWorld.com
Microsoft denies hiring freeze
Company says it’s re-evaluating some projects in wake of weaker economy
Microsoft Corp. today denied that it has instituted a hiring freeze, despite an internal memo described by an employee indicating the move.
“It is not true that we have instituted a hiring freeze,” said Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman. “What is true is that we are evaluating hiring as we always do and we might make projections that are different than perhaps we had at the beginning of the year.”
Some employees reportedly received a note saying that the company was re-evaluating its staffing levels and wouldn’t be expanding its head count.
But Gellos said the company intends to continue hiring new workers. “This year, we expect lots of growth and that we will hire lots of people,” he said. “I think the nuance is in the fact that, in light of the economy, it’s important that we do the prudent thing and evaluate projects that we’re working on.”
Gellos said he was unaware of a companywide memo to employees about hiring changes, but he said that individual divisions might have sent letters to workers.
Source: ComputerWorld.com
Read the complete story at computerworld.com
Mobiles, SMS play a role in Afghanistan security
The October 7, 2001, invasion of Afghanistan did more than mark the beginning of the “War on Terror.” It also paved way for the introduction of the first mobile phone networks into the country, networks that today find themselves pawns in the fight between the Taliban, the government and security forces.
Within months of the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, the first Afghan mobile networks began to appear. Today, Afghanistan has four privately-owned networks and, according to a recent report by the BBC, mobile phones are the only way most Afghans are able to communicate, especially in remote areas. The importance of mobile technology hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Taliban either, who have recently been destroying towers in an attempt to stop security forces using the technology to coordinate night-time attacks against them. That particular game of cat-and-mouse continues.
The dangers facing many in Afghanistan are often in the headlines. Recently news broke of three aid workers and their driver being killed near Kabul. Decades of invasion, war and fighting have run the country ragged. There are fewer more dangerous places on earth to work. As recently as July 2008, the Crime and Safety Report described the security situation as volatile and unpredictable, and warned of the limited ability of Afghan authorities to ensure the security of citizens and visitors who face threats of kidnap and assassination.
In such a challenging and hostile environment, nonprofit organisations expend considerable time and effort limiting their exposure to risk. With improved communication often at the heart of any security strategy, many have turned to the growing influence and availability of mobile phone networks in the areas where they operate, and to tools that give them the ability to communicate quickly, widely, efficiently and effectively.
Facing a continued and growing security threat, in January 2007 a major international humanitarian organisation (that shall remain anonymous for its own protection) began using FrontlineSMS for field communication in their Afghan operations. FrontlineSMS is free software that allows for two-way group text messaging (SMS) using a laptop computer and an attached mobile phone. This makes it particularly useful in situations where messages need to be communicated quickly and in a coordinated fashion. Following the recent attacks, as a representative of the Afghan nongovernment organisation reported, the tool was “essential” to getting the word out quickly: “E-mail was down, voice was spotty but SMS still worked. We also had two female staff at a school near the incident and were able to tell them to stay put till things quieted down. All my staff made it home safe today.”
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